Welcome
Each week one of our pastors or staff members writes a column observing what is going on in our congregation, the Church and the world, and offering reflections on the Christian life and faith. Through this series of columns, we hope to connect your and our story to the enduring story of Christ; to offer pastoral reflections on our ongoing congregational life and mission; to report on news of the Presbyterian Church and Church universal; and to invite further reflection and deeper discipleship. We welcome your comments and suggestions. In other words, our words here are an invitation to continue the conversation.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s groundbreaking work, “The Cost of Discipleship,” is cherished by people of faith from across the political, ideological and cultural spectrums. Whether you identify with one political party or another, hold tightly to this or that ethical principle, you are bound to find wisdom in Bonhoeffer’s words.
This Sunday’s Annual Meeting after the 10:00 a.m. worship service will celebrate the good health and vitality of the congregation, and this year we are adding something new! We have three special highlights planned in order to tell the story of our congregation and how our ministry is making a difference for people who are involved.
For the past 10 days, I have been traveling with a group of Christian clergy (from a variety of traditions) as well as Jewish Rabbis (also from a variety of traditions) in Israel and Palestine. During our time together we visited both Jewish and Christian traditional pilgrimage sites and heard from a variety of leaders in both regions who are not just working for peace, but building real relationships. We also worshiped together, experiencing one another’s liturgical traditions, and studied scripture, political statements and even poetry together.
Over my several decades of service to BMPC, I have rarely programmed a major choral work more than once. My rational is that, with such a vast canon of great choral works, a lifetime alone isn’t enough to even scratch the surface. It is far better to expose the choir and congregation to as many masterworks as possible. Over the span of more than 35 years of concerts, I have made a few exceptions to that approach, programming Handel’s Messiah and the Requiems of Mozart, Fauré, and Duruflé more than once.
This past week I participated in a gathering of Presbyterians in Louisville, Ky., in preparation for this summer’s General Assembly. In the course of those meetings I chatted with a pastor who had previously preached at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church.
Easter is a joy with the flowers, the brass accompanying our amazing choir and congregational singing, and the church celebrating with large crowds at all four services. Easter, however, in the wisdom of the church, is not just one Sunday. Easter is a full season between Holy Week and Pentecost.
I have always loved Easter Sunday. I have happy childhood memories of my mother making new matching dresses for my older sister and me to wear, of Easter baskets filled with the usual paper grass and chocolate eggs and always an unexpected surprise, of the brass and joyful hymns in worship, and lunch after church with a table full of family and often a guest or two.
